TriumphTheInsultComicDog

Awards shows are just an lazy way for networks to eat up hundreds of minutes of airtime. They also sell big chunks of advertising that no one will see because the kind of people who watch every single minute of airtime either never leave their house or don't have the cognitive faculties to understand the concept of money.

The worst of the worst is the Tonys. They seem to go out of their way to make the whole affair uninteresting and over the heads of their viewers who are located outside of the Broadway area, give or take a few blocks. Why even air them? Is there a beet farmer in Bumblecrack, Ark. who just can't wait another night to find out if Hope Davis took home the Best Actress nod for 'God of Carnage?'

This year, an orange glow of hope came down from the heavens when the people behind the awards show offered the hosting job to Conan O'Brien, an honor he turned down just as fast.

More of our best of the decade coverage, which started on Tuesday. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about the funniest or most surprising late night moments of the last ten years.

In the past decade, late night shows continued to bloom in popularity. However, some of our favorite late night shows were shuffled around while some got new hosts.

No matter what network executives decided to do to the line up of US late night shows, their hosts and guest stars gave us plenty fantastic, OMG!, and WTF? moments that generated tons of watercooler talks and forum discussion threads.

Below are some of the best late night moments of the past decade as chosen by some of the TV Squad bloggers. We realize there are tough choices in this category, so we hope you'll add your own favorites in the comments section below.

A lot of memories have surfaced of the good times that pop icon and musical genius Michael Jackson provided the world in the wake of his untimely and unfortunate death. However, an elephant in the room has wedged its wide butt in between the happy memories that range from "Billy Jean" to "Rockin' Robin," other than the eye-bleedingly bad Moonwalker movie.

Jackson's life outside of the recording studio and in the blood-soaked pages of the supermarket tabloids provided a lot of fodder for comedies and comedians that turned the man into a punchline just as fast as the radio waves turned him into a legend.

The best part of Late Night is coming to The Tonight Show. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog will be making his first appearance on Conan O'Brien's show tonight according to a Twitter entry (or "tweet," as the kids call it) from staffer/blogger Aaron Bleyaert. Hopefully, it's the first of many appearances.

I make no reservations about my love of Robert Smigel's alter ego. I have seen him in concert and own all the CD and DVDs that the character has released (except for TV Funhouse, which didn't have enough Triumph on screen to warrant my purchase). At this stage, I can even recognize Blackwolf the Dragonmaster on sight.

With that in mind, I may just have to catch Triumph's return to Conan's show. I'm not sure if the sort of humor can work at the earlier hour, but if David Letterman was able to move an hour earlier while still keeping his own style 15 years ago, I don't seen why Conan or Triumph can't do the same.

The world's armchair TV executives proudly proclaimed that the only way Conan O'Brien's cavalcade of foul-mouthed puppets and surreal pop culture mechanes could work every night at 11:30 p.m. is with a potent injection of Ritalin (present executive included).

O'Brien noted, however, that television has broken the time barrier.

"I think especially now, people don't watch an episode of Lost when they are supposed to watch it," he said during a recent conference call. "DVRs changed everything. The Internet has changed everything. People are getting it off Hulu and watching shows on their iPhone. What's most important to me with The Tonight Show is it needs to be funny so people can experience it at 11:30 or watch it the next morning while they're eating their oatmeal."

Conan O'Brien's final Late Night ended on a bold note, one that didn't involve animals doing things that would get humans arrested or Abe Vigoda being the best damn Abe Vigoda he can be. In fact, the only way it was remotely funny is if you are one of those douchebags who heckles a comic for building a serious moment or still thinks yelling "Do 'Freebird'!" in between songs at a concert is funny. You know who you are.

It was a serious and heartfelt moment for a show that some naysayers claim is already too silly and asinine for its audience. He put these stuck-up snobs in their rightful place and taught all who watched an important lesson about being true to yourself, especially in the face of those who say it's a big mistake.

And this from a show that features a bear that masturbates on cue. Suck on that, Hallmark Channel.

You've been putting off this moment for years. You've been denying yourself the courage to face the oncoming reality that not even God Himself can stop. You've pushed this little feeling to the deepest part of your brain so you wouldn't have to face it.

His final show in the time slot he has held for 16 years will have its final string dance on Friday, Feb. 20. He won't return to our eyeballs for at least another four months. Jimmy Fallon, meanwhile, takes over his slot in March.

Like Paul, I don't watch the Tonys, which isn't saying much because I don't watch the Oscars or the Emmys, either. The only award show I'll watch is the People's Choice Awards, and only because I didn't figure out until recently that the winners aren't all chosen by Nia Peeples. I just have a lot of respect for her opinion, I'm not sure why.

Anyway, Late Night with Conan O'Brien's resident insult dog puppet, Triumph, was as the Tony Awards (equipped with his Gaydar 4000), and as usual when Triumph crashes an event, the results are freaking hysterical. I want so badly to list all of my favorite lines from the bit, but since I don't want to ruin it for those who haven't seen it, check out the video below.

There hasn't been much talk about NBC's broadband video site DotComedy, and I've only poked around it a little bit myself, but before the end of this year, NBC plans to kick the site into high gear with clips of old shows, including Late Night with David Letterman, Coach and Dream On, and classic TV shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Munsters.

In an effort to woo viewers, the site will take on an aesthetic more akin to Comedy Central's Motherload site and feature both original and viewer-submitted content. The original series include "Hot Tub in Space," about a group of friends, in a hot tub, in space; "Untitled Comedy News Show," a parody of news programs that will actually pay viewers for jokes; "Easter Bunny Begins," a prequel to "The Easter Bunny Hates You" (video after the jump); "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: Live In Las Vegas;" and "Kyle's in a Coma," about a guy named Kyle, who, funny enough, is in a coma.

The improved DotComedy will also feature clips from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live. What, they can show classic Letterman, but not Carson?